Manstead One-Shots
by infantilejoy
Summary: Manstead (Dr. Natalie Manning x Dr. Will Halstead) one-shots; requests are open. Warning: may contain spoilers for any of the three "Chicago" shows. One-shots' lengths vary.
1. 1

Soundtrack: "The Other Side of the Door" by Taylor Swift  
"I said, 'leave,'  
But all I really want is you  
To stand outside my window  
Throwing pebbles  
Screaming, 'I'm in love with you!'  
Stand there in the pouring rain  
Come back for more  
And don't you leave  
Because I know all I need  
Is on the other side of the door"

...

"Look, I already said I'll take full responsibility of this, Nat!"

"I should've known better than to trust a man with my heart again," Natalie shouts.

"When did I break your heart?" Will scoffs.

"When you brought down a lawsuit on yourself and the entire hospital! When you dismissed me and that woman's DNR!"

"She'll thank me later!"

"Oh, sure!"

"I wanted her to go through Zoe's trial!"

"Maybe she didn't want to! Her wish was _to_ _die_ and you didn't even let her have that!"

Will lowers his voice to a normal speaking level. "I didn't dismiss you."

"Bullshit, Will, you know that's bullshit!" Natalie unlocks the door to her apartment and steps in, leaving it cracked open. She sighs heavily. "Look, Will, I have a son now. This isn't good for him. I can't have this," Natalie says softly.

"Nat, don't shut me out-"

"I should've known, Will." She shuts the door. She leans up against it, trying to hold back tears.

"Natalie, please. Don't do this," comes the muffled voice.

"Will, you need to leave." She brings the heart-shaped locket out from her maroon doctor's shirt and presses it to her lips. "Please leave."

"I'll see you next shift," his wavering voice says softly. There is silence, then footsteps as Will leaves the apartment building.

Inside Natalie's apartment, her month-old son, Owen, begins to cry from his crib. Natalie lets out a sob and goes to him. Helen, Natalie's mother-in-law has already picked him up and tried to comfort him, but to no avail.

"Thank you, Helen. I can get him from here. You should go home and get some sleep."

Thinking about what Natalie said of her broken heart earlier, Helen frowns, hoping Natalie won't forget about Jeff, her late husband and Helen's son, too soon. Yet Helen obeys and kisses both Natalie and Owen on their cheeks before leaving.

Will trudges back to his car and goes home, ignoring Zoe's calls.

 _I'll explain why I couldn't make it tomorrow- or can I even tell her without breaking down?_

He undresses, only to put a pair of shorts on before going to bed. He doesn't sleep, though, he just lays there. He lays there with his hands under his head and wondering why he did what he did.

 _I wasn't going to let her die. Yet I've pushed Natalie away by doing my job._

He rethinks the issue.

 _No, I didn't do my job. My job was to let her die._

His phone lights up with a call and he's confused to see Natalie's name on the caller ID. As much as he wants to pick it up, he taps "decline call" and turns over on his side.

 _And, somehow, that's supposed to make sense._

"Hey, it's Will. Uh, drop a message and I'll get back to you," says Will's voicemail recording. Natalie lets out a choked sob. There's a beep, signaling the recording of her message and she tries to pull herself together.

"Will? I-I know what I said, but I didn't mean it. I didn't, Will. I'm so sorry." There is silence for a minute as Natalie tries to gather her words. She begins with a sad laugh. "You know, Owen loves your voice. He wouldn't go to sleep. I tried everything and then I played one of your old voicemails you left me. He fell asleep in my arms, just like that, you know? I guess- I guess what I'm trying to say is that my son loves you. I love you." Tears spill, dripping down her face. "I'm sorry Helen wouldn't let you stay with me during Owen's birth like you wanted to. I'm sorry if you feel like you have to deal with me platonically. And I'm sorry I said all the things I did tonight."

Before her mouth can keep running, she ends the call and lays her cellphone on her bedside table.

"I wouldn't give you up for anything in the world," comes the text from Will, arriving ten minutes later.

Will smiles at her reply: "I'll leave the door unlocked."


	2. 2

Soundtrack: "Middle" by DJ Snake (featuring Bipolar Sunshine) /"I wish that I could /Turn back the time /And make it all all right /All all right for us /I promise to build /A new world /For us too /With you in the middle"

"You keep pushing me away, Nat."

Natalie stops walking, tablet in hand. "I'm not _there_ yet, Will. I'm not at that magical place where I stop missing my dead husband, where I'm ready to tell my six-year-old that he doesn't have a father, and where I'm completely fine with kissing my clingy coworker in between patients." As soon as the last part comes out, Natalie knows she made a mistake.

Will's face immediately drops. "I don't try to be clingy."

She knew just how much those blunt words stung. "Will, it just came out, I didn't mean-"

"You know what? It's fine." He raises his hands. "I'm just gonna walk away and pretend that you're only a coworker to me. I'm going to do what I did every day when I first met you. Just walk by, make my rounds, and never look in your direction unless I absolutely must." He turns around and walks off in the opposite direction. "Tell the patient I'll be there when you're not!"

"What the hell just happened?" Maggie asks, leaning over the desk and flashing Natalie a knowing look.

"I think I just broke his heart," Natalie whispers as she raises a hand to cover her mouth, which stands agape with sad horror at her own words.

"Mm," Maggie mutters. "In other news, they're waiting for you in Trauma Three."


	3. 3

Soundtrack: "Tear In My Heart" by Twenty One Pilots  
"But it takes someone  
To come around  
To show you how  
She's the tear in my heart  
I'm alive  
She's the tear in my heart  
I'm on fire  
She's the tear in my heart  
Take me higher  
Than I've ever been"

...

"Natalie, you didn't tell me?"

"Will-"

"Don't you think I should've known that you had fallen in love, much less gotten engaged? You knew damn well I liked you enough to propose in the middle of the ER."

She opened her mouth, but Will spoke before she could.

"Save it. I'm done playing cat-and-mouse with you because you always slip away."

Then he grabbed a tablet Maggie had placed on the counter for him and walked off towards Trauma One angrily.

The day passed slowly, both giving one another the silent treatment and the occasional glare.

Around noon, Sharon Goodwin pulled them both into an empty conference room. "All right, I've had enough. You two are supposed to be professionals." Sharon closed her eyes briefly and added to her speech. "And don't either one of you try to pass off the blame for the way you _both_ have been acting."

Natalie, standing with her arms crossed, lifted her face to look Sharon in the eyes. "I take full responsibility for what happened today."

Will looked over sharply, pity and remorse written on his face.

"Oh, do you? Would you like to tell me exactly what the hell's been going on, then?" Sharon demanded impatiently.

"I didn't tell Doctor Halstead I had affections for someone else. As a cover, I told him I wasn't over Jeff."

"So this is a catfight over Doctor Manning?" Sharon asked, looking at Will.

"No, it's not a catfight, Mrs. Goodwin. I demanded to know information that wasn't mine to have knowledge of."

Sharon sighed deeply. "Get out. And for the love of God, act like the professionals I know you are."

Both doctors nodded in meek understanding before walking out of the room, Will allowing Natalie to go out first.

Natalie sucked in a breath. "I was going to invite you to the wedding, Will; otherwise I wouldn't have told you at all. I wanted to postpone your pain, but I didn't know what was at stake. I'm sorry."

Will embraced her and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead quickly. "It's not your fault." He then rethought his actions. "I'm sorry, it's an instinct-"

"It's okay. I liked it."


	4. 4

Soundtrack: "Begin Again" by Taylor Swift  
And you throw your head back  
Laughing like a little kid  
I think it's strange that you think I'm funny  
'Cause he never did  
I've been spending the last eight months  
Thinking all love ever does is  
Break. and burn, and end  
But on a Wednesday  
In a café  
I watched it begin again  
...

"Do you know what Helen said to me?" Natalie asks Will incredulously.

"No," he answers, distracted by the patient information displayed on the table he holds in his hands.

"She told me I should move on from Jeff." She looks over at him.

"Why would she tell you that?"

"I don't know. It was after," her voice falters, "after I lost my ring."

He looks up from the tablet, wide-eyed. "Nat, I'm so sorry."

Natalie regains her composure. "I don't know how she could say that!"

"It's beyond me." He looks back down.

They enter Trauma One together, walking through the sliding doors side-by-side.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Manning," she starts, looking at the young brunet male lying in the bed, "and this is my trusted coworker, Doctor Halstead. We'll be taking care of you today. What's the problem?"

"He's broken four bones in the past month!" Screeches the mother sitting by the boy's bed. "All the doctors say, 'it's nothing, give him some calcium!'"

"Okay. Let's have a look at the scans April ordered," Will said, trying to calm the angry woman down.

Will and Natalie both look over the scans' results, then go outside to converse.

"Osteoporosis," they say at the same time.

"What will the mother say when we tell her that some calcium _could_ fix the problem?" Natalie asks cheekily, biting her lower lip.

"She'll be mad. She'll yell and say that we're 'just like the others' and one she gets it in her head that everyone she saw was right, she'll apologize. Happens every time."

She smiles. "You make me so happy. Maybe I am ready to love again."

Slightly taken aback, but still wanting her to know he welcomes her, Will agrees. "I'm sure Jeff would've wanted you happy."

Natalie leans in to kiss his cheek, then heads back inside Trauma One.

"Doctors! No PDA!" Maggie shouts, smiling from the counter acting as a centerpiece to the ER.

"Thank you, Maggie," Will says lightheartedly, shooting her a look.


	5. 5 PART ONE

Soundtrack: "Reckless Forgiver" by Jars of Clay

Every time I look in the mirror  
I'm in the shadow of doubt  
Maybe I'm as lost as the next guy  
You'll just have to find, just have to find out  
All I want is peace like a river  
A long life of sanity, love that won't leave too soon  
Someone to pull out the splinters  
Hey reckless forgiver  
You know I'm talking to you  
...

"Do you know what you sound like right now? An ass, Will," Natalie remarked in a hushed tone.

"Well, excuse me for giving you the second opinion you asked me for!"

"Just because you don't like Colin doesn't mean you have to be rude and bring up his _Former Smoker_ status. He knows damn well, all on his own, that's what caused his cancer."

Will was quiet for a moment, looking down at the papers in his hands, but not really reading them, before speaking back up. "I'm sorry, Nat."

She raised her eyes to look at him, then silently signed off on two different release forms. "It's okay."

Later, after their shift had ended, Will approached Natalie as she was loading her things into her white Honda.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Is it about the gala tomorrow evening?" Natalie asked lightheartedly, never looking up.

"How'd you know?" He grinned.

"You wanna ask me to be your date. I overheard you talking to Maggie about it when you thought I was in the break room." She stole a quick glance at him, smiling.

"Then you should already know that-"

"Maggie thinks it's a bad time to ask me out. She thinks I'm not ready to let go of Jeff yet."

"And that's what I came to ask you about."

"If I wasn't ready to let go of Jeff, would I do this?" She suddenly reached out, grabbed the maroon collar of his doctor's shirt, and pulled him into a kiss.

 _TO BE CONTINUED_


	6. 5 PART TWO

[The soundtrack song is _**not**_ the same as the one mentioned later. Imagine your favorite slow song then.]

Soundtrack: "Crazier" by Taylor Swift

I watched from a distance as you made life your own  
Every sky was your own kind of blue  
And I wanted to know how that would feel  
And you made it so real  
You showed me something that I couldn't see  
You opened my eyes and you made me believe  
You lift my feet off the ground  
You spin me around  
You make me crazier, crazier  
Feels like I'm falling and I'm lost in your eyes  
You make me crazier, crazier, crazier  
...

Will picked Natalie up from her house at seven the next evening, ignoring Helen, who was standing in the door holding Owen and giving Will dirty looks as he waited on the porch for Natalie.

Finally, she stepped out in a shimmering green organza gown and silver heels and linked her arm with his.

Will knew at that moment that he was head over heels in love with her.

"I can't believe I bought this. I don't even like green," she said, stepping in cautiously to the passenger seat of his blue Camry.

"It compliments your eyes. You should wear this shade more often," he said before shutting her door.

She looked down, blushing, and smiled.

When the gala began at eight, all of the guests were seated at tables with each of their names on cards. Will and Natalie ended up next to Sharon Goodwin, and Matthew Casey and Gabriela Dawson from the Chicago Fire Department.

A three-course meal was served and everyone at their table, excluding Natalie and Sharon, who drank water, had stuck to their promises of one alcoholic drink.

A slow dance started shortly after dessert, and Will dragged Natalie out onto the dance floor after the first song had ended.

He explained to her that it was his favorite song.

She didn't tell him it was her wedding song.

As the song came to a close, Natalie looked right into his brown eyes and leaned in to kiss him. Time seemed to slow and everything was perfect. Pulling away, he cleared his throat quietly and smiled.

He held her close while they danced and, for once, she didn't fight it.


End file.
